Copeland, FL news and local guide

During World War II demand for cypress brought the timber industry to Southwest Florida, and in 1943 the new Lee Cypress Lumber Company made Copeland a company town, the base camp for more than 300 sawyers, railroad workers and their families under superintendent J. R. Terill. Homes were built of cypress, and most residents were Black; the town was segregated, with separate facilities for white and Black workers, and the company oversaw nearly everything, including a commissary and a few juke joints. A large depot handled logs brought out of the Fakahatchee Strand and the Big Cypress Swamp along the line that is now Janes Scenic Drive, and the logs were shipped to the huge sawmill at Perry, 400 miles north. The timber operations ended in 1957, and Copeland's population quickly dwindled. Sources Wikipedia: Copeland, Florida